Twitch released its first State of Gaming report on September 9, 2026. The report says viewers watched more than 8.6 billion hours of gaming content on the platform in the first eight months of the year. Twitch says that works out to about one hour for every person on Earth.
Other data points to a closer race than that number suggests. Kick, the platform launched in 2022 by Stake co-founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, grew its hours watched by 36.7% year over year in Q2 2026, according to platform tracking data reported by Net Influencer. YouTube also grew and remains the biggest livestreaming platform overall.
Below are the latest numbers for Twitch, Kick and YouTube, what they measure, and how the platforms compare.
Twitch State of Gaming 2026: the main numbers
The figures come from Twitch’s own internal data and cover January 1 to September 1, 2026. Growth figures compare the same period in 2025. The full breakdown is on the official Twitch State of Gaming 2026 report.
| Metric | Figure (Jan 1 to Sep 1, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Total gaming hours watched | 8.6 billion+ |
| Top 5 games combined | Nearly 1.7 billion hours |
| Sandbox genre | 831 million hours |
| Horror genre | 287 million hours |
| Indie-tagged channels | 348 million+ hours, up 51% |
| Streams with Drops enabled | 1.6 billion hours, up 46% |
| Drops campaigns | 7,500+, up 20% |
| Users who claimed Drops | 40 million, up 15% |
Twitch’s five most-watched games were League of Legends, Counter-Strike, GTA V, VALORANT and World of Warcraft. League of Legends was the top game in most regions Twitch listed, including the US, UK, France, Spain, Brazil and Mexico.
Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton also pointed to interest in the upcoming GTA 6 release, saying the community was “showing up so big it broke the site.” Twitch did not share an outage length or a peak viewer count for that event.
Top Twitch streamers named in the report
| Streamer | Region | 2026 figure |
|---|---|---|
| Jynxzi | North America | 78 million hours watched |
| TheBurntPeanut | North America | 70 million+ hours watched |
| Rubius | Spain | 21 million+ hours watched |
| Kamet0 | France | 13 million hours watched |
Jynxzi’s hours came mainly from Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege and League of Legends. TheBurntPeanut’s came from ARC Raiders, Rust and Escape from Tarkov.
Kick growth in 2026: what the data shows
Kick’s growth shows up across several data sources:
- Q2 2026 hours watched: 1.34 billion, up 36.7% year over year (Net Influencer).
- Unique channels: about 807,700 in Q2 2026, up 45.5% year over year (Net Influencer).
- Quarter over quarter: Kick’s total hours watched rose 7.6% from Q1 to Q2 2026 (Streams Charts).
- Full year 2025: 4.5 billion hours watched, up 131% (Stream Hatchet).
The Streams Charts Q2 2026 livestreaming report found that Twitch still produced about three times more hours watched than Kick. A year earlier, that gap was close to five times.
Esports also helped. Esports broadcasts on Kick drew 66% more hours watched in Q2 than in Q1 2026, mostly from Counter-Strike events such as the IEM Cologne Major.
Kick passed 100 million registered users in April 2026, and it set an all-time peak of about 4.6 million concurrent viewers in October 2025, according to tracker data compiled from Streams Charts’ Kick statistics. For a look at the creators behind these numbers, see our list of the most-followed Kick streamers in 2026.
Twitch vs Kick vs YouTube: side-by-side comparison
Each source measures a different time period, so every figure below includes its date range.
| Twitch | Kick | YouTube | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Amazon | Backed by Stake founders | |
| Latest hours watched | 8.6B gaming (Jan to Sep 2026) | 1.34B (Q2 2026) | 15.5B all content (Q2 2026) |
| Full-year 2025 | 19.2B | 4.5B | 8.8B (gaming only) |
| Q2 2026 trend | Flat, within 1% of Q1 | +7.6% vs Q1 | +14.8% vs Q1 overall; gaming -12.4% |
| Gaming share (Q2 2025) | About 54% | About 11% | About 24% |
| Standard sub split | 50/50 | 95/5 in creator’s favor | YouTube Partner Program terms |
YouTube’s total includes sports and entertainment. Much of its Q2 2026 growth came from CazéTV’s Brazilian World Cup coverage, which passed one billion hours watched on its own. YouTube Gaming alone fell 12.4% from Q1, partly because esports leagues like the LCK moved more viewers to other platforms.
Why Kick’s 95/5 split matters for streamers
Kick pays creators 95% of subscription revenue. Twitch’s standard split is 50/50, though some qualifying creators get better terms through Twitch’s Partner Plus program.
| Monthly sub revenue | Streamer keeps on Twitch (50/50) | Streamer keeps on Kick (95/5) |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $500 | $950 |
| $10,000 | $5,000 | $9,500 |
Kick’s link to Stake, an online gambling operator, remains a point of scrutiny for advertisers. The platform earns most of its revenue through ads, sponsorships and that Stake connection, not subscriptions.
Where Twitch still leads
Twitch remains the largest dedicated gaming livestream platform by hours watched. Some Q2 2026 details from Streams Charts:
- Summer Game Fest 2026 pushed Twitch past 4.4 million concurrent viewers, its highest peak in 11 months.
- Esports broadcasts on Twitch grew 22.4% in hours watched.
- May was Twitch’s best month of the quarter, helped by Jynxzi’s creator tournaments.
The platform has also dealt with creator pushback this year, including the backlash over Twitch’s AI training opt-out policy.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours did people watch on Twitch in 2026?
Twitch reported more than 8.6 billion hours of gaming content watched from January 1 to September 1, 2026.
Is Kick growing faster than Twitch?
Yes, in percentage terms. Kick grew 36.7% year over year in Q2 2026, while Twitch stayed roughly flat from Q1 to Q2. Kick’s total audience is still about one third the size of Twitch’s.
Which platform has the most livestream viewers overall?
YouTube. It had 15.5 billion hours watched in Q2 2026, or 49.5% of all livestreaming tracked by Streams Charts.
What is Kick’s revenue split?
Kick gives streamers 95% of subscription revenue and keeps 5%. Twitch’s standard split is 50/50.
